Line Tools
Working with Lines of Text
Many everyday text tasks involve whole lines rather than individual words or characters — sorting a list, reversing the order of entries, or removing duplicate entries from a dataset. These tools handle those operations instantly in your browser.
Sort Lines
The sort lines tool alphabetically orders the lines in any block of text. Paste in an unsorted list — names, URLs, file paths, words, or any line-by-line content — and get back a cleanly sorted version. Options typically include ascending (A–Z) and descending (Z–A) order, and case-insensitive sorting so "Apple" and "apple" are treated as equivalent.
Sorting is useful for normalising lists before comparison, preparing CSV data, alphabetising glossaries or bibliographies, and deduplicating entries after sorting brings identical lines together.
Reverse Lines
The reverse lines tool flips the order of lines in a block of text — the last line becomes the first, and so on. This is handy for reversing chronological logs (most recent first), flipping the order of a list, or undoing a previous sort.
Common Line-Manipulation Use Cases
- Cleaning up exported data — spreadsheet exports and database dumps often need lines sorted or reordered before further processing
- Alphabetising lists — references, names, tags, and keywords are easier to scan when sorted
- Reversing timestamps — logs written oldest-first can be flipped to show most-recent entries at the top
- Preparing word lists — vocabulary lists, glossaries, and flashcard decks benefit from alphabetical ordering
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the sort tool handle numbers correctly?
The default alphabetical sort treats all content as text, so numbers sort lexicographically (1, 10, 2, 20) rather than numerically (1, 2, 10, 20). For numeric sorting, ensure numbers are zero-padded to the same length, or use a spreadsheet application for numeric data.
Can I sort lines case-insensitively?
Yes — the sort lines tool includes a case-insensitive option so that "Banana" and "banana" are treated as equivalent and sorted together, rather than uppercase letters sorting before all lowercase letters.
What counts as a line?
A line is any sequence of characters ending with a newline character. Empty lines (just a newline with no content) are preserved unless you explicitly choose to remove them.